‘Game Of Thrones’ Star Kit Harington Finally Reveals How He Felt About Jon Snow’s Controversial Ending
The Game of Thrones finale was met with a lot of harsh criticism by fans around the world, and one of the show’s main stars, Kit Harington, is finally sharing his thoughts on the controversial ending. Season 8 of Game of Thrones was the end of the line for many of our favorite characters, and Harington admitted that he was disappointed by some of the developments in the final season. So exactly how did Harington feel about Jon Snow’s fate?
Kit Harington dishes on controversial ‘Game of Thrones’ scene
The final scenes in Season 8 of Game of Thrones explore what happened to each of the Stark children following Daenerys’s (Emilia Clarke) death. We learn that Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) becomes a traveler and ventures into unknown parts of the world, while Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) remains in Winterfell to rule the North as an independent kingdom.
Bran (Isaac Hempstead Wright), of course, is crowned the King of Westeros, while Jon is last seen leading a group of people into the territory beyond The Wall (after swearing to serve in the Night’s Watch instead of being executed for killing Daenerys).
In a recent interview, Kit Harington opened up about Jon’s ultimate fate and how it meshed nicely with the character’s overall story arc. According to Slash Film, the Game of Thrones star absolutely loved Jon’s ending and thought that the character was finally free to do as he pleased.
He also believes that Jon was always meant to live with the Free Folk, and that spending his last days beyond The Wall released him from what he was forced to do with Daenerys.
“Instead of being chained and sent to the Wall, it felt like he was set free. It was a really sweet ending. As much as he had done a horrible thing [in killing Daenerys], as much as he had felt that pain, the actual ending for him was finally being released,” Kit Harington shared.
Harington regrets one scene in Season 8
While Harington enjoyed the ending, there was one part of Season 8 that he wishes would have gone differently. In the same interview, Harington revealed that he was disappointed when he discovered that Arya was going to be the one who killed the Night King (Vladimir Furdik) instead of Jon.
Going into the final season of Game of Thrones, most fans expected there to be a major showdown between Jon and the Night King, who clashed in a big way in Season 7. But when the big moment came, it was Arya who dealt the final blow to the show’s main antagonist, a move that made Kit Harington unhappy.
Harington admitted that he was “a bit p***ed off” when he read the script, mostly because he wanted to see Jon kill the Night King. Harington felt like the show was building towards a confrontation between the characters for a long time and was shocked by the twist.
Although Harington was originally disappointed, he was also happy for Williams. In the final seasons of the show, Arya had transformed into one of the world’s most deadly assassins, so watching her put her skills to good use was satisfying for Kit Harington – even if he originally wanted Jon to be the one who finished off the White Walker.
‘Game of Thrones’ director dishes on Night King ending
Apart from Harington, director Miguel Sapochnik recently opened up about “The Long Night” and the decision to have Arya kill the Night King. Sapochnik had directed many of the show’s biggest battle sequences and thought a lot about the scene when Arya stabs the Night King at Winterfell. Sapochnik revealed that they originally wanted to show Arya fighting her way to the Night King.
They ditched that idea, however, because it was too repetitive with earlier fight sequences. They ultimately decided that it didn’t matter how Arya reached the Night King as long as they got the rhythm of the scene correct.
Once the Night King grabbed Arya in mid-air, the only thing left to do was get the knife switch in and have Arya take him down. The scene ended with Arya and Bran sharing a quick smile, a moment Sapochnik felt was just as important as anything else. Sapochnik, unfortunately, has not commented on Harington’s feelings about the scene.
The final season of Game of Thrones is available to stream on HBO.
It was also just announced that Kit Harington is joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the Black Night in The Eternals.
